Manx Care is set to pilot a process where patients are informed of their appointments six weeks in advance.

As part of its work to improve patients’ experience when accessing services, this new step will aim to reduce patient confusion and therefore reduce the number of missed appointments.

Appointments will continue to be booked in the usual way, with the only change to the process being in the timing of when the appointment letter is sent.

All those who have appointments booked less than six weeks in advance will have their letter sent to them at the time of the appointment booking.

A spokesperson from Manx Care commented: ‘It is hoped that this will help more patients to remember the date of their appointment, rather than having to take note of it months in advance.

‘Please be reassured that if you receive a letter and cannot attend the appointment in six weeks’ time, you can rearrange it by telephoning the Patient Information Centre in the same way you would have done before.

‘Another reason for the change is the expected improvements in terms of efficiency and paper/postage costs. When an appointment is booked and the patient is notified far in advance, it sometimes has to be changed due to clinic changes.

‘However, these changes are discouraged less than six weeks ahead of the appointment, unless this is due to sickness or otherwise unexpected necessary leave.

‘This gives us more confidence that once we have sent your letter, your appointment should not be cancelled, meaning this should be the only letter we have to send.’